Graph marking device



' Dec. 26, 1967 c. R. HARTE 7 3,359,897

I GRAPH MARKING DEVICE Filed June 11, 1964 United States Patent 3,359,897 GRAPH MARKING DEVICE Charles R. Harte, 714 Perth Ave., Flossmoor, Ill. 60422 Filed June 11, 1964, Ser. No. 374,325 3 Claims. (Cl. 101-334) The present invention relates to a new and improved graph marking device, and in particular to such a device having means for bringing one of a plurality of marks to printing position, and means for precisely locating the device in printing position on a graph or chart.

It is frequently desirable, in preparing a graph or chart comparing conditions such as business trends, the results of chemical analyses or the like, where two or more plot tings are made on the same graph, to designate the control points for each of them with a different symbol such as a dot, a circle, a star, a triangle, a square, a cross, a diamond, or some similar indicia. The person preparing the chart customarily does this work freehand with pen or pencil. If there are a large number of plottings on the graph, it sometimes becomes difficult to distinguish between various symbols. Furthermore, the freehand marking is usually irregular and does not present a neat pattern in the finished graph.

One solution to this problem is to be provided with a number of different marking devices in the form of marking stamps and an inking pad. This system, while better than the use of freehand marking, has the disadvantage of requiring the chartist to be provided with a separate instrument for each symbol. It is also not easily possible accurately to mark the symbols on the graph since its center is set inwardly of the edges of the holder.

A principal object of this invention is to provide in a single instrument a means for printing any one of a series of indicia or symbols on a graph in a precise position.

Another object i to provide in a single device a means for manually selecting one of a series of graph marking symbols to be printed on a graph and for indicating to the chartist the precise position in which to place the device for accurate printing of the selected symbol.

Another object is to provide in a single device a flexible ribbon bearing a plurality of graph marking indicia or symbols, manually adjustable means for manipulating the ribbon so as to select one of them for printing on the graph, and guide means to be aligned with the usual lines on the graph to indicate where the indicium or symbol will be printed when the device is operated.

Another object is to provide a novel graph marking device having the previously described characteristics, which is simple in construction and requires substantially no maintenance for a long trouble-free life.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the graph marking device of the present invention, howing the indicium or symbol bearing ribbon lifted from printing position;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 22 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken in the plane of FIG. 2, showing the device with the indicium bearing ribbon in printing position; and

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the device in printing position, taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3, looking in the direction of the arrows.

In the drawing there is shown a graph marking device comprised of a bottom frame 12 and an upper frame 14 embracing the bottom frame and reciprocal with respect thereto.

The bottom frame includes a pair of uprights 16 which are interconnected at their upper ends by an inked pad supporting receptacle 18 which may be made integrally with the uprights 16. The inked pad receptacle 18 is boxlike and has a top plate 20 and front and rear walls 22 to form a pocket within which an inked pad 24 may be confined. Extending vertically from the top plate 20 is a guide plunger 26.

The uprights 16 are relatively wide, being as wide as the inked pad receptacle 18, and are connected at their lower ends by a foot portion 28 which includes a pair of spaced rods 30 and a pair of feet 32 which are secured to the under sides of the rods 30 and have their lower faces generally coplanar with the bottom edges of the uprights 16. This unit forms a rectangular foot portion 28 which gives rigidity to the lower portion of the bottom frame 12.

Secured to the under side of the I foot portion, and particularly to the feet 32, is a placement guide member 34 of a rigid sheet of transparent plastic material, such a polyvinyl, a methacrylate, or the like, having an aperture 36 at its center and positioned within the rectangle defined by the spaced rods 30 and the feet 32 at approximately the center thereof. The placement guide member 34 is inscribed with a pair of perpendicular cross hairs or guide lines 38, one of which is parallel to the rods 30 and the other of which is parallel to the feet 32, and their extensions across the aperture 36 would intersect at substantially the center of the foot portion area defined by the rods 30 and the feet 32.

These cross guidelines 38 are intended to be aligned with the ordinary and conventional guide lines on graph paper so that the marking indicia or symbols, when inked onto the graph sheet, will be placed precisely at the intersection defined by the perpendicularly arranged guide lines, and thus at the precise position in the graph desired by the graph maker.

The upper frame member 14 includes a pair of legs 40 interconnected attheir upper ends by a cross bar 42 and having transverse slots 44 at their lower ends, the function of which will be appreciated hereinafter. At the center of the cross bar there is affixed a manipulating handle 46 in which there is formed a bore 48 coinciding with an open ing 50 in the cross bar 42. The guide plunger 26 projects into the bore 48, and a spring 52 is confined between the closed end of the bore 48 and the projecting end of the plunger 26 so as to bias the frame 14 upwardly with re spect to the bottom frame 12.

The uprights 16 are each provided adjacent their outer edges with a pair of guide slots 54 which are parallel to each other and parallel to the vertical axis of the uprights 16. At their lower ends the legs 40 are formed with inwardly projecting ears 58 which engage in the guide slots and complete the guiding structure between the lower frame 12 and the upper frame 14, and also limit the reciprocal movement between these frames.

An indicium or symbol ribbon carrier 60 is mounted within the confines of the bottom frame 12, and includes a pressure bar 62, a movement controlling axle 64 parallel thereto and positioned adjacent thereto, and a pair of parallel channel members 66 which are integral with the pressure bar 62 with the open sides facing outwardly. The channels 66 journal the axle 64 which projects therebeyond.

The channels 66 have their open sides engaged with a pair of guide studs 68 carried on the inner faces of the lower frame uprights 16 and which are fixed in position so as to assist in controlling the movement of the ribbon carrier 60.

Adjacent the ends of the channel members 66 opposite the pressure bar 62 is a second axle having a drum 72 rotatably mounted thereon, as well as spacers 74, and ribbon advancing thumb elements 76.

A ribbon 78 of flexible material, preferably rubber, is trained over the drum 72 and the pressure bar 62, and bears a plurality of graph marking indicia or symbols 80, such as stars, diamonds, squares, circles, dots, crosses, xs, and combinations thereof, as will occur to the imagination of the various graphs makers. These various indicia will indicate various items in any particular graph, be it for economics, stock market trends, grain market trends, debt trends, political analyses, chemical examinations and tests, physics examinations and tests, and the hundreds of other types of analyses that are customarily made by various types of graphists, so that more than one plotting may be made in one graph, thereby comparing different trends or results in different analyses of comparable parameters and comparable conditions. Various of the indicia 80 may be brought into position across the outer surface of the pressure bar 62 by manipulating the ribbon advancing elements '76 in the appropriate direction when the device is held with the ribbon removed from against the inking pad 24.

The carrier 60 is rotated from the position shown in FIG. 1 to that shown in FIG. 3 by means of position reversing slots 82 in the uprights 16 which have upper and lower vertical straight portions and an intermediate offset portion 84 curved around the guide studs 62. The axle 64 not only projects through the channel members 66, but has its ends projecting through the guide slots 82 and through the transverse slots 44 in the legs 46 of the upper frame member 14. Washers 86 and C-clips 88 retain the axles in axial position so that they do not slide from the guiding slots.

As the frame 14 is telescoped downwardly over the frame 12, the axle 64 moves downwardly in the slots 82 and sidewardly in the slots 44, thereby swinging the carrier 60 in a direct-ion to pivot it about the fixed studs 68, thereby bringing the pressure bar 62 from a position uppermost within the frame 12 to a position lowermost therein, as seen from a comparison of FIGS. 1 and 3.

When the device is used in plotting a variety of positions on a graph, the ribbon 78 is moved so that the proper symbol 80 is brought to lie across the pressure bar 62. The device is relaxed to the FIG. 1 position so that the symbol is brought against the inking pad 24 and receives an appropriate quantity of ink. The device is placed over the graph paper with the cross guide lines 38 along the customary coordinates on the graph paper, which will indicate that their projected intersections across the aperture 36 would be at the precise point at which the indicia is to be printed. The handle 46 is moved sharply downwardly, and the carrier 60 is reversed in its position by the movement of the axle 64 in the carrier reversing slots 82 so that the inked symbol 80 is projected against a sheet of graph paper or the graph, thereby printing the selected design thereon to indicate one of a particular series to be made on the graph. Other symbols 80 are brought into position across the pressure bar 62 for other plottings on the same graph and the process continued until all of the markings are made. Adjacent ones of the same character may then be connected by lines of different character, such as dotted, dot-dash, sol-id, or different colors, so that various trends or results may be compared and analyzed.

This graph marking device has therefore several very marked advantages, such as convenience, ease of operation, versatility of marking, identity of marking for each particular plotting on the graph, simplicity of construction, and low manufacturing cost. The objectives which were pointed out for this invention in the opening paragraphs of this specification are fully attained by the device which has been disclosed.

While a preferred embodiment of the graph marking device has been shown and described, it will be apparent that modifications and variations thereof may be made without departing from the underlying principles of the invention. It is therefore desired, by the following claims, to include within the scope of the invention all such variations and modifications by which substantially the results of this invention may be obtained through the use of substantially the same or equivalent means.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by United States Letters Patent is:

1. In a graph marking device for applying any one of a plurality of symbols to a graph, having a symbol bearing ribbon carrier having a pressure bar, an axle mounted in the carrier and extending parallel and adjacent to the pressure bar, a ribbon mounting drum, a flexible ribbon encircling the pressure bar and the drum and bearing a plurality of difierent graph marking sysmbols, a frame mounting the carrier for pivotal and reciprocal movement, an inking pad carried by the frame, means guided by the frame and connected to the carrier for moving the carrier from ribbon inking position to a position in which an inked symbol is projected for printing, the improvement comprising a device positioning indicator carried by the frame made of a transparent material and of a size to extend transversely beyond the frame, said indicator having a central opening through which the inked symbol may be projected against a graph to be marked, and a pair of perpendicularly oriented guide lines intercepted by said opening and which if projected across said opening would intersect at the point at which the symbol is projected.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1, wherein said indicator comprises a circular disc whose outer periphery lies substantially beyond the frame, and said opening is circular and at the center of said disc.

3. The combination set forth in claim 2, wherein said guide lines extend inwardly from the periphery of said disc to the edge of said opening.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS WILLIAM B. PENN, Examiner. 

1. IN A GRAPH MARKING DEVICE FOR APPLYING ANY ONE OF A PLURALITY OF SYMBOLS TO A GRAPH, HAVING A SYMBOL BEARING RIBBON CARRIER HAVING A PRESSURE BAR, AN AXLE MOUNTED IN THE CARRIER AND EXTENDING PARALLEL AND ADJACENT TO THE PRESSURE BAR, A RIBBON MOUNTING DRUM, A FLEXIBLE RIBBON ENCIRCLING THE PRESSURE BAR AND THE DRUM AND BEARING A PLURALITY OF DIFFERENT GRAPH MARKING SYMBOLS, A FRAME MOUNTING THE CARRIER FOR PIVOTAL AND RECIPROCAL MOVEMENT, AN INKING PAD CARRIED BY THE FRAME, MEANS GUIDED BY THE FRAME AND CONNECTED TO THE CARRIER FOR MOVING THE CARRIER FROM RIBBON INKING POSITION TO A POSITION IN WHICH AN INKED SYMBOL IS PROJECTED FOR PRINTING, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING A DEVICE POSITIONING INDICATOR CARRIED BY THE FRAME MADE OF A TRANSPARENT MATERIAL AND OF A SIZE TO EXTEND TRANSVERSELY BEYOND THE FRAME, SAID INDICATOR HAVING A CENTRAL OPENING THROUGH WHICH THE INKED SYMBOL MAY BE PROJECTED AGAINST A GRAPH TO BE MARKED, AND A PAIR OF PERPENDICULARLY ORIENTED GUIDE LINES INTECEPTED BY SAID OPENING AND WHICH IF PROJECTED ACROSS SAID OPENING WOULD INTERSECT AT THE POINT AT WHICH THE SYMBOL IS PROJECTED. 